Tour de Romandie: Kwiatkowski wins the prologue

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Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) continued his impressive run of spring results by winning the prologue time trial at the Tour de Romandie.

"It's a big surprise to win. I was in good form after the Ardennes Classics but I was not sure how I felt today," said Kwiatkowski.

The young Polish rider went off early and set a time of 6:22 for the hilly course. Several riders went close to his time but none managed to beat him. Australia's Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) showed his stage race credentials by finishing second, four seconds slower than Kwiatkowski. Sprinter Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) was third, also at four seconds. World champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) finished fifth at five seconds.

"It's the first time I've sat in a hot seat for so long and to gain a few seconds advantage on my rivals is something special," said Kwiatkowski. "I think I knew the course really well and did it perfect in every moment of the race. I didn't go too fast early on and tried to save myself for the end. I was on my limit at the line and so that was perfect. I knew the weather was going to change too, so that's why I decided to start early."

Chris Froome (Team Sky) was the last rider to start as the 2013 winner and finished 13th, nine seconds slower than Kwiatkowski. Teammate Richie Porte was a lot slower, finishing more than 20 seconds slower. Tejay van Garderen (BMC) crashed during his ride and lost close to three minutes.

Thanks to his victory, Kwiatkowski will wear the race leader's jersey during Wednesday stage one from Ascona to Sion. While he was pleased to win the prologue, he was hesitant about his chances of overall victory after the recent heavy block of racing the Classics.

"It's hard to say if I can win overall. I'll look at the GC day by day," said Kwiatkoswki. "It depends on how I recover from the Ardennes Classics. This is the last race of my spring season. We've got good riders with Tony Martin and Rigoberto Uran, so we're looking forward to the next few stages."

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